what happened before the officer pulled the trigger. some celebrities lending star power to push for tougher gun laws. who will make an appearance on the hill today. good morning and welcome to "news4 today." irm eun yang. i'm aaron gilchrist. we'll check traffic in a moment. but first a live look at union station. if you missed your train this morning, you can't blame the weather. it's too nice out there. meteorologist tom kierein has your forecast. >> a calm wind looking down from space. we have a lot of cloudiness across northern virginia, the district. most of maryland, the cloud cover has broken up southern maryland, northern neck, eastern shore. southern part there. there's a mostly clear sky. under that clear sky, it's below freezing into the upper 20s. northern neck, lower eastern shore and across the rest of much of virginia, it's right near freezing. shenandoah valley, most locations above freezing. martinsburg, hagerstown, closer to washington, around the beltway, near the freezing mark

including prince george's county. arlington, fairfax and montgomery county. as the morning progresses, we'll climb above freezing at 8:00 a.m. a lot of cloudiness around the metro area. sun breaking out. elsewhere, the winds are picking up. by 10:00 to noontime, the winds gusting to 15 miles per hour. by noon, ought to be around 40 degrees. i'm back in ten minutes with another hometown forecast as well as a look at the regional forecast. that's coming right up at 6:10. now a look at traffic with danella. good morning. >> good morning. i'm tracking the situation on the vre train. this is the fredericksburg line. you're dealing with big delays. the problem is that the brook station, one track is dealing with a broken rail, the other track is dealing with a disabled freight train. right now trains aren't able to pass the brook station. train number 300, delays almost an hour. 30245 minutes. metro will be honoring the vre tickets. marc not reporting delays this

morning. over to the roadways, tracking a disabled vehicle in lorton. good news, it's off to the right shoulder. travel speeds in virginia not bad. 14 minutes from prince william parkway to the capitol beltway. a d.c. father needs your help. he's concerned about his daughter's safety since his ex-girlfriend took her. a court granted eric burkes temporary custody of his daughter ariana. he told us that the mother came into town with her boyfriend roderick williams. williams is wanted for a probation violation in arkansas. >> my daughter is in a dangerous situation right now. she's in a dangerous situation. she don't know anybody down there around her and she's around a whole bunch of men. >> he hasn't seen his daughter since last thursday when her mother asked to taker to the grocery store. coffee is blamed for

severely burning a toddler. a 2-year-old boy was trying to drink hot coffee at a home on gulf estates in lay tonsville. he was burned and flown to a trauma center with scalding injuries. it appears to be an accident. new morning, a man is in critical condition and an officer injured after a police-involved shooting. it started out as a domestic dispute call on 13th street northwest. officers say when they entered a home there, they ran into a man armed with a knife. one of the officers fired his gun. the suspect was hit in the face but is in stable condition. one of the officers sufd a minor injury. both are expected to be okay. >> a developing story now in the south pacific. at least six people are dead. three others hurt after a massive earthquake there. it was an 8.0 earthquake in the solomon islands. want to show you video from fiji. people scrambled for higher ground. you see it here because of a

tsunami warning. it was canceled two hours ago. it did cause two smaller tsunamis. it's too early to fully assess the damage until they can get into those damaged and destroyed buildings. >> today, president obama will reach out to fellow democrats to help prevent billions of dollars in spending cuts from taking effe. he'll head to annapolis to speak at the democratic senate caucus. he'll urge senators there to pass a short term deal that would avert what's known as see quest ration. cuts will take affect march 1st if no budget deal is in place. martin o'malley will also be in annapolis to marc a case on stricter gun laws. imposing some of the toughest gun laws in the country. prince george's county executive baker will testify in favor of the bill also. gun rights activists are planning a protest to oppose the measure. the gun control debate will

play out on capitol hill as well. tony bennett and chris rock will be among those in town urging congress to pass president obama's gun control law. that legislation includes a ban on assault weapons and high capacity ammunition magazines. it will be deja vu for john kerry today. he'll be sworn in again as secretary of state. vice president joe biden administers that oath during a ceremonial swearing in this afternoon at the state department. kerry was officiallily sworn in last friday. fallout this morning to a story we brought you yesterday on "news4 today." legal experts are raising major concerns over a white house policy allowing americans to be targets of drone strikes. nbc news got an internal memo that said -- the potential targets also don't have to be charged with a crime. legal analysts say that threatens constitutional rights. >> it is a chilling document. it sets out the government's

claimed authority to carry out the targeted killing of american citizens, but the limits are really vague and elastic and it's easy to see how they could be manipulated. >> it's unreasonable to expect that the u.s. will have specific evidence about a plot. instead, this allows some flexibility. >> the obama administration says that it is confident the strikes follow federal and international law. sometime this week the pentagon expected to announce a major policy change that would extend some military benefits to same sex spouses. ld soon have access to things like housing privileges and recreational activities. the allowances would not cover health care benefits. military would likely require documentation that designates a service member's same sex partner. one year away from the winter olympics. why there's already a little concern that mother nature won't cooperate. also, a terrifying crime caught on tape at a local jewelry store. what the robbers used that

paralyzed everybody inside. a rescue in an iconic park is caught on camera. temperatures are back where they belong in time of year. weather and traffic on the 1s, next. (woman) 3 days of walking to give a break cancer survivor a lifetime-- that's definitely a fair trade. whoo! you walk with friends, you meet new friends, and you keep those friendships. it was such a beautiful experience. (woman) ♪ and it's beautiful ♪ undeniable (woman) why walk 60 miles in the boldest breast cancer event in history? because everyone deserves a lifetime. visit the3day.org to register or to request more information today. ♪ burning like a fire ♪ building up from deep inside it was 3 days of pure joy.

susan g. komen's investments in early detection and treatment have helped reduce breast cancer mortality in the u.s. by 33% since 1990. help us continue serving the millions of women and men with breast cancer who still need us every day. register for the 3-day now. (woman) it's just been an amazing, amazing journey. i love these people. ♪ and it's beautiful

in just a couple of hours we'll find out what the new monopoly token will be. online voters chose among a diamond ring, a toy robot, a cat and a helicopter. the winner will replace either the shoe, iron or wheelbarrow. the winning piece will be revealed on nbc4 during the "today" show. let's check in with tom kierein. time for weather and traffic on the 1s. >> it's not going to be a snow shovel. no precipitation right now. prince george's county, morning side, that's the location of our hometown forecast. it will be reaching the low 40s. lots of sun this afternoon.

a blustery wind. here's the forecast for the region. we'll reach the mid-40s by mid-afternoon. that wind will be gusting around 30 miles per hour. the temperature then will be plummeting down to near freezing by midnights. seven-day outlook in ten minutes. a look at traffic with mdanella. good morning. good morning. tracking delays on the vre. train number 300, hour delay. train number 302, 50 minutes. train number 304, a 20 machine minute delay. back in ten minutes talk about an accident in four corners. danella, thank you. new this morning, a not so warm welcome for the president of iran. what one person did that cut the event short. a daring crime at a local annualry store. the clue not caught on camera

6:14. new information this morning about in brazen jewelry store heist. take a look here.

three masked men rushed into a jewelry store in the middle of the day. you see video from inside colonial jewelers. the men ordered everybody inside to get on the ground. then they sprayed pepper spray throughout the store. the they smashed display cases and grabbed what they could. the news post reports they they made off with $130,000 in jewelry in under a minute. the critical clue may not be on the tape. they took off in a dark-colored ford f-150 approximate i canup truck. >> the alabama boy spent almost a week as a hostage celebrates his sixth birthday. we're learning about the heroic rescue of ethan. jimmy lee dykes allowed members of the hostage team to deliver supplies. they tricked him dropping a frash bang device. they shot and killed dykes during the raid and found explosives in and around the bunker and disarmed them safely.

ethan was taken to the hospital and was deemed okay and able to go home. the veteran charged with murdering a former navy seal sniper is reportedly refusing to meet with his court-appointed lawyer. eddie ray routh is on suicide watch and held on $3 million bail. he's accused of murdering former seal chris kyles and another man at a texas shooting range last weekend. routh apparently confessed to his sister who then called 9-1-1 later. the educators who lost their lives at sandy hook elementary will get citizen medals. they go to the four teachers, the principals and the psychologist. the awards will be given to their families at a ceremony next friday. the medal honors americans who have performed exemplary deeds of service for their country or fellow citizens. new this morning, nearly a dozen massachusetts pharmacies are being shut down after a

surprise inspection following a deadly meningitis outbreak. 11 of 40 pharmacies are being closed. all are similar to the new england compounding center. that farm i was producing a contaminated steroid that led to 45 meningitis deaths and sickened more than 600 other people. several of the pharmacies shut down did not have sterile conditions. others were using improper ingredients in their drugs. the pharmacies will have to pass another round of inspections in order to reopen. four protesters in police custody after of this rowdy scene in egypt. one man threw a shoe at mahmoud ahmadinejad. you saw that there. the iranian leader visiting an ancient mosque there in cairo. he was not hurt. egypt and iran has had strained relations for decades. throwing a shoe in the arab world is a sign of extreme disrespect. 6:17 now. the executive board of the boy scouts of america will meet to possibly overturn its ban on

homosexuals. the scouts have had a long-standing policy banning gay scouts and leaders. last week the board said they might vote to it leave the issue up to local troops to decide. gay rights advocates are thrilled about the change but some say it goes against their values. during an interview, president obama supports the lifting the ban and saying everybody should have the same opportunities sfwliechblgts wh. what could you buy with $45 million. how about a picasso? it was sold in london last night. also on the auction block a work by monet which sold for $14 million. art experts say despite tough economic times, prices for the most sought-after art works in the world soared in recent years. right now, one of america's most recognizable skiers is on the way back to the states for surgery. lindsey vonn went down hard during her run in austria. she was treated on the slopes

and then airlifted to a hospital with two torn lig ligaments and a broken lepg. it could take six to eight months to get back on her skis. that should give her time to prepare for the 2014 winter games. what a terrible fall. i hope she makes a speedy recovery. we're talking about the winter games. the official countdown starts today. >> we're exactly one year away from the opening. sochi russia is hosting. they build most venues from scratch with a price tag of $50 billion. there are already concerns about the weather. temperatures have been well above freezing in the black sea resort town this winter. but the mayor says that they are making plans to keep the games going with temps as high as 50 degrees. conditions are better in the surrounding mountains which have been getting plenty of snowfall. the "today" show launches its countdown this morning starting at 7:00 right here.

they score. >> a tough start to the season is not getting any better for the caps. they dropped another game last night. this time to the toronto maple leafs 3-2. that gives them a league worst record of 2-7-1. that leaves a lot of catching up to do with the shortened season here. already 20% over. the caps will try to turn things around against the rival penguins tomorrow night. two teams are recovering after -- teens are recovering after falling through ice on a frozen pond. look at this cell phone videoment they were taking pictures of each other on the ice when it broke sending them into the frigid water. a firefighter in a wetsuit helped to save the teens. they were taken to a nearby hospital in stable condition. very lucky that they were able to get them out of will. >> absolutely. 6:21 on our wednesday morning. want to check in with tom kierein to see what you can expect today. >> a celestial delight in the

skies. a crescent moon this morning. we have a few breaks in the clouds over washington where it's in the mid-30s in the district of columbia. much of prince george's county near freezing. low to mid-30s, arlington, fairfax. near freezing the rest of northern virginia and southern maryland as well. highs predicted in the mid-40s in the metro area. highs only in the 30s western maryland, parts of panhandle of west virginia. south of washington, highs should reach the upper 40s. parts of southern maryland through fredericksburg to culpeper and warrenton. we'll have increasing clouds tomorrow. temperatures low 40s. may be a i wintry mix early friday morning pre-dawn. then aum rain ending by friday night. sun back for the weekend. breezy and cold on saturday. warmer sunday. maybe rain on monday. i'm back in ten minutes. danella with a look at traffic now. >> good morning. in the first 4 traffic office, tracking problems on the fredericks line. the vre train. the problems at the brooks

station. one track is dealing with a broken rail, the other track a disabled freight train. train number 300, an hour and 5 minute. 55-minute delay on train number 302. and also 304, 35-minute delay. no trains are getting by that station. let's head to the roadways. this time we'll talk about silver spring. southbound, colesville road. the crash blocking the lane. at one point left lane was getting by. now two left lanes getting by. it's under a mile. aaron and eun, over to you. we're not sure how you change the radio. the viral video of an inventor trying to beat traffic in the world's smallest car. the unplace you may want to opt for the full calorie soda over the diet stuff.

diet soda may do more harm than good mixed with alcoholic drinks. it could get you more drunk. researchers say diet drinks combined with alcohol can cause a higher breath alcohol concentration. regular soda stimulates your stomach much like food and

delays your bloodstream from absorbing the alcohol. smart cars may be small but you may look dumb in the world's smallest car. check this out. >> yes, look at this. ♪ very brilliant. >> oh, my god. >> imagine seeing this next to you on the beltway this morning. this is jeremy clarkson, host of the bbc show top gear. he's testing the world's smallest car. the p 45, that's short for pink slip in britain. does that qualify as a car? >> it can't. >> he's not too impressed. but he calls the hybrid a death trap. >> come on. that's a big wheel with a motor. >> looks like a covered motorcycle in a way. i love that his face is like up against the windshield. >> scary stuff. new overnight, the nfl admitting the power problems at the super bowl started before the game. plus a 10-year-old taken to jail. the toy that could expel him

from school. as we come up on 6:27. your weather and traffic on the 1s. next, stay with us.

they're gathering information about a shooting that happened

while you slept. a police officer fired on a suspect, hit that man in the face. we've been on the scene all night. what police are telling us now. first, good morning everybody. welcome back to "news4 today." i'm aaron gilchrist. i'm eun yang. we're watching the rails for you this morning also. a lot of people are stranded right now waiting tore their trains to start moving. danella is in the traffic office tracking that. meanwhile, the temperatures are back where they're supposed to be this time of year. meteorologist tom kierein live on the weather deck with more. tom? >> good morning, the cloud cover is now breaking up. that's a live picture there from union station and above there is the crescent moon. you can see the other part of the moon there. that's the earth shining back on to the moon. the sunlight reflecting off of the earth. beautiful picture here as we start off early on this wednesday morning. we have under this sky the cloud cover breaking up throughout much of the region. although to our south and east, it's mostly clear and to the north and west, we have the cloud cover continuing to break

up as we take a look here at the next several days. we're going to have general temperatures holding steady right near the average high, which is about 45. but right now, it's near the freezing mark in prince george's, arlington, fairfax, prince william too. montgomery county too. right near freezing. much of the region now will be holding steady near freezing through 7:00. by 8:00, with a light wind will be above freezing. upper 30s by 10:00. by noontime, near 40. the winds going to start to increase as we get into the afternoon hours with lots of sunshine. we could have gusts up to 20 to 25 miles an hour. with that bright sun, though, it ought to make it into the mid-40s. a hometown forecast coming up in ten minutes. a look at first 4 traffic now with danella. good morning. >> good morning, tom. still tracking the situation at brook station. along the vre line. this is the fredericksburg line. if you're traveling in stafford, expect big delays. the problem is on one of the tracks there, it's a broke n

rail. the other track, still dealing with a disabled freight train. delays are growing. fredericksburg train number 300, 302, over an hour delay. train number 304, your delays about 45 minutes. no traffic is getting through in that area. sorry for the camera zooming in here. as you make your way along university boulevard, the crash has two of your left lanes getting by. right lanes are blocked. let's head over to i-95 northbound at yale boulevard. you can see this accident off the roadway on the left here. your travel lanes are open. but you are starting to be just a bit sluggish as you make your way to dale city. 6:32 now. a 10-year-old in alexandria could be expelled for bringing a toy gun to school. he showed off the fake weapon a bus on the way home from school. the school tried to call his parents with no luck. police arrested the child yesterday and took him to yuf

nil detention. he was later released. the boy is now suspended. an elite swim coach from montgomery county appears to be leaning toward a plea deal in the child sex abuse case against him. lawyers for rick curl filed documents for an agreement. but no deal until that paperwork is signed. she's an adult now. curl is due in court again on february 21st. we could learn more today about secret court proceedings in the case of the man convicted of killing chandra leafy. the judge will hold a hearing today to discuss reporters' requests for information about the closed proceedings. we aren't sure what the hearings were about. sources told news 4 last month that guandique may have the conviction thrown out because a key witness in the trial not credible. d.c. mayor vincent gray has major plans for economic growth in the district. he outlined the plans in his state of the district address last night. gray says d.c. is poised to become a hub for technology

jobs. he's planning a trip to qatar to court foreign investors. gray announced plans to spend $100 million on new affordable housing. he hopes to make d.c. the greenest and most livable city in the u.s. >> i think it's obvious the long time residents as well as casual observers alike that the district is now a big league city. >> the mayor's address did get negative attention. a group protested outside over plans to close a number of schools because of low enrollment. a new bill could make it harder to cheat on standardized tests in public schools. the testing integrity bill could make it a violation to facilitate cheating. it could require security training for teachers, proctors and monitors. the district has been plagued by cheating claims since a report recorded high rates of wrong -- at tests on more than 100 schools. a new prince william county

police chief. county supervisors named hudson chief of police. he's a 30-year veteran of the department. hudson joined the force as a patrol officer and worked up the ranks. he replaces charlie dean who retired after 24 years last year. ahead, a warning for parent especially at this time of day. a toddler with life-threatening injuries because of what he drank. new information about a police shooting. a suspect shot in the face and still alive this morning. some issues on the roads this morning but the real trouble is on the rams. weather and traffic on the 1s. make a basket for grandma. >> i don't know. >> and the little boy who got skills. he's so good he's catching the eye of nba players.

we gotta sell the car. where would we even start? get the car. hi howard. get in. hi, good to see you. start with an actual written offer when selling your car, no strings attached. carmax. start here.

(woman) 3 days of walking to give a break cancer survivor a lifetime-- that's definitely a fair trade. it was such a beautiful experience. (jessica lee) ♪ and it's beautiful (woman) why walk 60 miles in the boldest breast cancer event in history? because your efforts help komen serve millions of women and men facing breast cancer every year. visit the3day.org to register or to request more information today. it was 3 days of pure joy. ♪ and it's beautiful

♪ ♪ seriously? >> wow. >> maybe the wizards are watching this. they could use a little help. >> this is a 2-year-old. may be the young he's master at the trick shot. >> he's got a pass fire in his mouth. >> everybody blown away with the shots he was draining here. apparently, we're not alone. we checked. more than 670,000 people have watched this. we'll call it a highlight reel on you-tube. you can check it yourself. we posted it on our facebook page. >> can you say scholarship? awesome. he's cute. >> let's check the forecast now. storm team 4 meteorologist tom kierein here with changes. tom, things going to warm up. >> we might get to our average high. this time of we're, look at that sky. clearing out now over the potomac. beautiful view there. sunrise at 7:09. right now at 6:39. we're 30 minutes away from sunrise. reagan national airport at 37 degrees. elsewhere, we're a little bit

above freezing in frederick county to hagerstown, martinsburg, winchester to cumberland. closer to washington, below freezing. arlington, fairfax county into -- we zoom in on arlington. our hometown location. it's near 30 degrees. bit of a blustery wind. winds will be gusting throughout the region today as we reach the low to mid-40s which is the average high for early february. wind gusting to around 20 miles an hour. we'll have lots of sunshine. then this evening, the temperatures going to be dropping. in fact, by midnight, right back down to near freezing. by this time tomorrow morning, it's going to be right down into the mid-20s. a cold start on thursday morning. we'll take a look at the rest of the week. we'll take a look at the weekend as well. your seven-day outlook is in ten minutes. a look at traffic now with danella. good morning. >> good morning. have an update coming out of the first 4 traffic office.

here's where we are. at the brooks station, this is the vre. fredericksburg line. at one point throughout the morning, none of the trains were getting by. there was a disabled freight train there. that train is on the move. also on the move, fredericksburg train number 300. still a delay over an hour. but it is on the move. train number 302, again, that delay is over an hour. we'll check on two o more trains. train number 304, looking at a delay will of 55 minutes now. expect delays on the fredericksburg line all morning. trains are now on the move. if you want to take metro, they're honoring your vre tickets. an update on the road. colesville road in four corners at university boulevard, there's a crash that's blocking the right lane. you can see left lanes are getting by. earlier i saw a delay as you make your way southbound on 29. that's getting a little better had morning. back in ten. aaron and eun, over to you. thank you, danella.

we're learning of more evidence that the nfl wags concerned about a potential outage before the super bowl long before the lights went out. an nfl executive told reuters that they used generators during the game because of power fluctuations during rehearsals. they thought it was the best way to prevent problems with tv cameras and other gear. now to a developing story. an 8.0 earthquake in the solomon islands killed at least six people and injured three others. want to show you this video from fiji. people were scrambling for higher ground because of a tsunami warning. it was canceled two hours ago. this quake caused at least two smaller tsunamis, damaging at least 50 homes and buildings. police say it's too early to assess the damage until they can get into the damaged and destroyed buildings. >> lawyers could present details of a plea deal for a man accused of shooting a secured guard. he's due in court on committing an act of terrorism. he opened fire inside the family

research counsel i will downtown. prosecutors say corkins didn't like the opposing stance on gay marriage and abortion. the security guard responding was hit. corkins is -- there's no details of the plea agreement. we expect to learn more information about the health of a georgetown man charged with murder. albrecht muth was taken to the hospital last month because he hasn't eaten since december. he's set to go on trial for the death of his 91-year-old wife's death. he said it was an iranian hit intended for him. new this morning, a shooting has landed a man in the hospital and injured officers as well. started as a domestic call just after 11:00 on 13th street in northwest d.c. officers say when they entered a home there, they ran into a man armed with a knivment one of the officers fired his gun after the

suspect lunged at him. he was shot in the face. he's in stable condition. one officer suffered a minor injury as well. both are expected to be okay. new into the news room, a toddler is recovering from serious burns after trying to drink hot coffee. this happened at a home on gulf estates drive in lay tonsville, maryland. that's near the montgomery country club. the little boy was flown to a trauma center with severe scalding burns. investigators say it appears it was an accident. a father is making an emotional plea to find his 6-year-old daughter who vanished with his ex-girlfriend. he was granted temporary sole custody of his daughter ariana. he's raids raised her on his own since birth. the mother came into town with her 30-year-old boyfriend roderick will wrams to visit. williams is wanted for a probation violation in arkansas. >> doing everything that i can to get my daughter back. she don't know her. you know, she's -- they are

strangers to here. i've had ariana all her life. they're strangers to her. he hasn't seen his daughter since last thursday when her mother asked to take her to the grocery store. the republican owe the post reporting that house speaker william howell will use a procedural method to kill the rule. it drastically changes the legislation would attach to. that would allow him to kill that measure. another emotional day for i don't know kerry. he'll be sworn in again as secretary of state. vice president swrbiden will administer the ceremonial oath. he was officially sworn in last friday. major building concern over a white house policy allowing americans to be targets of drone strikes. nbc news obtained an internal memo that says u.s. citizens that are top leaders with al qaeda can be targeted by drones

even approximate they don't pose an imminent threat. the potential targets also don't have to be charged with a crime. legal analysts say that threatens constitutional right. >> it is a chilling document. it sets out the government's claimed authority to carry out the targeted killing of american citizens. but the limits are vague and elastic and it's easy to see how they could be manipulated. >> it really is unreasonable to expect that the u.s. will had always have specific evidence about a plot. instead, this allows some flexibility. >> the obama administration says it is confident the strikes follow federal and international law. >> president obama and republicans in congress are squaring off in yet another budget battle. they have less than four weeks to come to an agreement on this one or face billions of dollars in spending cuts. the president is calling on congress to pass a short term deal to avoid those cuts which could be disastrous to the country's economic recovery.

republicans are critici president for failing to submit his budget proposal to congress before the government deadline which is the first monday of february. he's missed that deadline four times in five years. news 4's angie goff has breaking news at the live desk. >> we've got incredible video of a box truck that's dangling off a highway in south florida. look at this rescue effort under way. fire and rescue workers are responding after a person was trapped in this truck. now, this accident happened about an hour and a half ago in fort lauderdale. details limited right now. but this is what we know. police said two people were in the truck when this crashed. you can see it's leaning into part of that pillar there. one of the people was able to get out. one person is still in that truck and we're hearing that that person is unresponsive. as for the person at the hospital, their condition is still unknown. what you're seeing right now is

they're trying to tie up a rope to secure the truck and the plan is we're hearing from officials to bring a tow truck on scene. you can see the red tow truck. they're going to use the rope to pull the truck off that dangling ledge. a difficult procedure indeed and hoping for the best. from the live desk, angie goff, news 4. today we'll get an idea of the postal service's plan to save money. details of a shakeup to be revealed. bertha coombs is live with that. bertha, good morning to you. >> good morning. patrick done hoe scheduled a -- the executive board directed him to speed up efforts to further reduce costs. the agency lost nearly $16 billion last year and defaulted on $11 billion in health care pay payments. they've proposed chosing several locations and may cut saturday mail delivery. that move, though would have to be approved by congress.

the nasdaq is reportedly in settlement talks with the s.e.c. over facebook's botched ipo. the wall street journal says a deal would likely include a $5 million fine. market makers and brokers say they lost upwards of $500 million because of the technical glitches during facebook's ipo last may. nasdaq offered to pay $62 million. as you can imagine, a lot of them feel that they should get a bit more than that. back to you. >> just a little bit. bertha coombs. thank you. new study shows ha many workers are spending most of their time on the computer not doing work. the study shows that when employees are on the web as much as 80% of the time, they're doing cyber loafing. employees are shopping online, on facebook, or watching cat videos on you-tube. monitoring usage is effective but it lowers worker's morale.

what are you supposed to do. improve productivity. you can't be wasting 80% of your day. >> jobs that require us to be on facebook, on twitter, on tweet deck and all the other things out there. it's an interesting time we live in. >> tough. tough to be the boss sometimes. let's turn to meteorologist tom kierein now. not wasting any time on the computer. making his forecast happen for us. >> we're all on facebook and twitter and it opens up a whole world for us. it's a great way to connect with you, our viewers. one of the people i follow on twitter is chris hatfield who is an astronaut on the international space station. he took this picture of new york city from 400 miles up. if you look closely, you can seaman hant. that's the bright spot in the middle. a clear night in new york city. if you follow on twitter, i'll post some of the other photos o. some are absolutely astonishing. there's the view from our city camera. there's dawn over the potomac on this wednesday morning. we're starting off cold. reagan national at 37.

we've got a very light southwesterly breeze. a crescent moon in the sky. the cloud cover is beginning to break up. we're going to have quite a bit of sunshine as the day progresses. right now under the sky, down to near freezing in montgomery county. much of prince george's county, arlington, fairfax county as well. right around the low 30s to upper 20s. prince william into loudoun and fauquier, stafford and spotsylvania. as we look here, hour by hour, through the morning, lots of sunshine. ought to be in the upper 30s by late morning. near 40 degrees. the winds will increase too. during the afternoon, we could have gusts up to around 30 miles per hour or so. these are the highs expected this afternoon. ought to hit the 40s in northern virginia, gt district, nearby suburbs in maryland. highs near 40 farther north and west. 30s highs. hit upper 40s to our south. southern maryland to fredericksburg, warrenton and

culpeper of the we'll have increasing clouds on thursday. mid-20s tomorrow morning. highs low 40s tomorrow afternoon. then on friday, we might get a wintry mix pre-dawn. after midnight, thursday night to the pre-dawn hours on friday, there is a possibility of a little bit of snow, sleet a little bit of light freezing rain. but all of it melting on surf e surfaces for the most part and well into the 40s the rest of the day with rain likely ending friday night. cold saturday morning. high saturday with sunshine. near 40 with a blustery wind. wind settles down. we warm up on sunday to near 50. on monday, might hit the low 50s. chance of a passing shower on tuesday. i'm back with frequent updates throughout the "today" show. now a look at traffic with danella. good morning. good morning. in the first 4 traffic office all morning long, tracking rail delays. vre, fredericksburg line. trains are now on the move but still pretty slow. fredericksburg train number 300,

80-minute delay. also seeing delays. train 304, your delay is an hour. train number 306 a delay of 35 minutes. over to metro, they're honoring vre tickets. if you're taking the red line this morning, a switch problem. this is at silver spring station outside of silver spring station. it's causing key lace on the red line in both directions. over to the roadways, inbound canal road at fox hall road a disabled vehicle here blocking the right lachblt eun, over to you. >> danella, thank you. 6:53 now. angie goff has an update on the breaking news in south florida. >> the dramatic rescue continues in fort lauderdale. taking a live look from the chopper. you can see emergency responders trying to get that dangling box truck off o the sieftd highway overpass. they've actually put a ladder there and the firefighter is on the ladder and he's doing activity there by the driver's side of the window. what we do know is that one

person who is unresponsive is still trapped inside this truck. another person managed to escape and is in the hospital. their condition is unknown. this is a very delicate procedure. officials saying right now they're trying to tie a rope to the dangling rope so that the tow truck on scene can pull it to safety. at the live desk, angie goff, news 4. >> thank you, angie. it looks like virginia will join maryland and d.c. with tougher texting while driving laws. they want to increase the fines and make testing while driving a primary offense. the fines would jump from $20 to $250. making it a primary offense means police no longer have to pull you over for another offense to cite you. governor mcdonnell's last chance to change the transportation funding system. the state senate rejected two amendments. the remaining house bill get rid of the gas tax as the governor wanted and makes the sales tax 5.5%. it cuts the proposed $100 fee

for hybrid and alternative fuel vehicles. the domestic agenda today through fellow democrats in the senate. he'll speak at the caucus in annapolis. the president will talk about immigration reform and gun control among other issues during the closed-door retreat. also in annapolis today, gun right activists are planning a rally. o'malley plans to it testify for the first time about his gun control plan. he's proposing some of the toughest gun laws in the country. he wants to ban assault weapons and create stricter licensing requirements for handguns. some members of his own party fear his plan is too drastic. gun control activists will be on capitol hill as well. celebrities, including tony bennett and chris rock, will urge congress to pass president obama's gun control package. that legislation includes a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition mag gleans. today, one of the oldest social service charities in the

nation's capitol will announce it's receiving a major donation. the late richard herrmann given family matters $28 million. the charity says he began t donating $25 a year since 1967. he died in november. a few months after his 100th birthday. he inherited his wealth from his father who was chief engineer of a railway company. before you head out the door, tom has another look at the forecast. >> it's cold. neat need your winter coat. near freezing. a lot of sun later today. blustery wind. storm team 4's seven-day outlook, highs in the 40s each day through saturday. warmer, sunday, monday, tuesday. friday morning, stay tuned. we could have a wintry mix pre-dawn. parts of the region might have snow, sleet and freezing rain. elsewhere, all rain and most of the region will have just rain on friday and drying out for the weekend. chilly saturday but milder sunday. maybe more rain on monday.

danella, how is traffic now? >> here's the situation. a live look from chopper 4. this is the brook vre station. a lot of people on the tracks there. at one point, no trains were getting by. it's very crowded. if you're taking vre, expect delays on the fredericksburg line. metro is honoring your tickets this morning. thank you, danella. thanks for starting your day with us. >> the "today" show is next. back with more weather and traffic and breaking news. back here tomorrow morning at 4:28. hope up join us then. see you tomorrow. make it a great wednesday, everybody.